Am I dead again?
Su-ah asked herself as she slowly forced her eyes open, she could still feel a dull pain in her chest when she moved slightly.
But as the blurriness in her vision slowly dissipated, she was greeted with nothing but darkness.
It wasn't like the darkness that came at night or the one that came when one closed their eyes. This one made her feel uncomfortable...she couldn't see any single thing with color around her and it made her feel suffocated.
It stretched in every direction around her, was there even something like direction around here?
She couldn't help but ask herself as she turned her head in another direction. She was still met with that same endless darkness.
No sound. No wind. When she looked beneath her feet, there was no ground. It seemed as though she was floating in the night sky but without the stars or clouds... An empty void, that was what she decided to call it.
"So this is it huh?" She said, a weak chuckle escaping her lips.
After everything she went through—after being stabbed multiple times on that cold floor, how she bled out. She had literally thought dying would actually mean something.
She had thought she'd have peace now. Or at least go to heaven or hell.
No offense but...hell would have been better than this.
Su-ah crossed her arms against her chest, though she couldn't even see them in the dark. They still made her feel safe.
While alive she had put up with every shit and endured so much insults, endless exhaustion from working multiple per time jobs and disappointment, that had become the only emotion she had felt while alive.
Through it all, her only motivation had been death. She had thought, when I die... it'll finally be over.
But now?
She found herself stuck in an empty black box that one wouldn't even call an afterlife. She felt cheated!
"Come to think of it, what was that earlier..." Su-ah wondered, before she passed out, she heard the words 'Game over' echo through the air.
Wait, game over? That phrase didn't make sense or rather, she didn't want it to make sense. There was no way she had suddenly woken up in a game... after all, in webtoons and light novels she had read while still alive.
These kinds of scenarios weren't rare. But she didn't want to think about it.
She closed her eyes again, though it didn't exactly matter. Behind her eye lid was dark, so everything just looked same.
Maybe if she stopped thinking... stopped hoping... this darkness would give her the peace she desires and she'd finally disappear for good.
With a smile on her lips, she was about giving in to that thought when—
BEEP!
The sound exploded through the air suddenly, making su-ah flinch.
Su-ah had just recovered from the sudden sound when another BEEP followed, louder this time and it made her ears sting.
Then a mechanical voice cut through the darkness.
[...System rebooting....]
Su-ah found it hard to breathe at this point.
[Restarting scene. Free trail still in progress]
[Location: Veythorne's Inner Palace.]
A faint flow flickered to life in front of her. That same green, translucent panel hovered a few metres in front of her, the panel pushing slowly like a heartbeat.
Su-ah found herself staring at it, her hands that were folded against her chest curled into loose fists.
"What are you?" She asked, hoping to get an answer but the panel didn't talk.
How could it even talk?
Despite not getting answers to her question, she tried to push herself forward, to grab the strange floating thing. But her body refused to move, she tried harder but she didn't even move an inch.
It was like she didn't even have limbs at this point.
"Come on," she whispered tiredly. "Can't you just answer my question?"
No response but this time, the panel slowly dimmed out, the beeping sound stopped suddenly.
Then, a sudden burst of light appeared, swallowing the darkness whole.
'Fuck!' su-ah exclaimed, squeezing her eyes closed as the brightness almost had her going blind. It was so intense that it felt as if needles had been poked into her eyes.
For several seconds, she could only use her hands to cover her eyes, trying to minimize the damage.
After a few moments, she slowly and carefully opened her eyes.
She was back to that large hall she had found herself in earlier. But this time, she was laying on the cold tiled floor, its smooth surface had her frowning.
When she looked above her, the tall silver haired man was standing a few feet away from where she laid.
His hair fell down his back like something that had been woven from the moon, the strands seemed to glow slightly under the palace chandeliers. His grey eyes stared down at her with faint amusement in them.
"Are you a little angel?" He said dryly. "I thought you just died."
Su-ah frowned at his words. First, he called her angel when she really was the one who looked like them. Although, she had never expected someone who looked like an angel to wish her death like she was some inconvenience.
She tried to sit up from the floor, the sound of the chain around her wrists and ankles rattled slightly.
The moment she pushed herself to her feet, the heavy iron around her dragged her back to the floor.
She pushed herself off the floor once more, standing only for the chains to yank her back. The impact knocked air out of her lungs.
After several attempts, she simply decided to remain on her knees. Her chest rising and falling unevenly, she gritted her teeth as she stared down at the tiled floor.
A soft chuckle echoed above her. "You should stop trying to embarrass yourself. Although, I find it amusing rather than embarrassing, Seraphina."
That name. That god-damned name made something inside her snap.
Su-ah placed her chained hands against the floor and pushed. It took every ounce of strength she had, but she painfully managed to stand upright.
When she finally balanced herself, her legs trembled slightly beneath her.
"Why...am I chained like a criminal? What the fuck did I do to deserve this?" Su-ah asked the silver haired man, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.
But what normal person wouldn't cry when they were being treated like this?!
"I died a few hours ago! I bled out on the floor and now, I wake up here and everyone's treating me"
The words spilled out before she could even stop herself, the desperation in her voice unmistakable.
Su-ah looked down at her feet, ashamed.
Big girls don't cry!
She hadn't meant to cry, especially not in front of people that felt happy with themselves seeing her like this.
She had endured multiple setbacks while she was still alive, and she hadn't broken down like this. With one thought in mind— when she died, she'd finally be free.
But now, she was here.
The silver haired man stared at her silently. For a brief moment, something unreadable flickered through his grey eyes before he finally turned away.
[Get the dragon king to feel pity towards you. Success!]
[Reward: Keep playing to get a reward.]